The Comoro Islands lie off the east African coast between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar.

The islands are poor and overcrowded – they make money from selling exotic spices like ylang-ylang and vanilla abroad, but need to import basic food supplies.

The Comores declared themselves independent from France in 1975. One island, Mayotte, decided to stay with France, but the rest of the islands still claim Mayotte as part of their territory. Frequent military takeovers and times of violence trouble the islands – tension exists on the two smaller islands who want to be separate.

Almost the entire population of the Comores are Muslim, with 780 mosques but no official churches. Although many people are disillusioned with Islamic society telling people about Christianity is absolutely forbidden. Pray that the few Christians on the island would still find opportunities to share their faith.

Mayotte also has a Muslim majority, but mosque attendance is low and there is complete freedom for Christians to meet openly and tell others about Jesus.